NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) Lifted to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. KeyCorp reissued a sector weight rating on shares of NorthWestern Energy Group in a report on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on NorthWestern Energy Group from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded NorthWestern Energy Group from a sell rating to a neutral rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $51.71.

NorthWestern Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NWE opened at $48.93 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $49.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.41. NorthWestern Energy Group has a one year low of $45.97 and a one year high of $60.56. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20 and a beta of 0.43.

NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $356.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $443.27 million. NorthWestern Energy Group had a return on equity of 7.23% and a net margin of 13.64%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that NorthWestern Energy Group will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

NorthWestern Energy Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from NorthWestern Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.31%. NorthWestern Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NorthWestern Energy Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NWE. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 6.2% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 26,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,527 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 1.7% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 165,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,011,000 after acquiring an additional 2,746 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 0.8% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,852,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,506,000 after acquiring an additional 74,439 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 17.2% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 64,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,067,000 after acquiring an additional 9,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of NorthWestern Energy Group by 3.8% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 28,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,725,000 after acquiring an additional 1,031 shares during the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NorthWestern Energy Group Company Profile

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc provides electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and various industrial customers. It generates, purchases, transmits, and distributes electricity; and produces, purchases, stores, transmits, and distributes natural gas, as well as owns municipal franchises to provide natural gas service in the communities.